


Stane removal

by kaige68



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Inception (2010), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Crossover, Gift Fic, M/M, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-19
Updated: 2014-04-19
Packaged: 2018-01-21 03:52:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1536521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaige68/pseuds/kaige68
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if the battle scene at the end of Iron Man I only happened in Stane's dream.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stane removal

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sharpiesgal (TigerLily)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TigerLily/gifts).



> Written for [](http://sharpiesgal.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://sharpiesgal.livejournal.com/)**sharpiesgal**. It's something she asked for over the summer last year, and then I wanted to get it done for her birthday (which also didn't happen). It isn't what you originally asked for, but it's where my brain went. You deserve all good things, hon! Happy everything.

Phil was on the phone as soon as he’d taken in all of what was on the flash drive that Pepper Potts had handed him. Her behavior while leaving Stark Industries had been uncharacteristic, he now understood why. His call was answered without a word on the receiving end. “I need you in Los Angeles.” Phil turned away as Pepper tilted her head inquisitively.

_”When?”_ The question was as clipped as the single word implied.

“Before I hang up the phone.” He smiled politely at the redhead.

_”What’s the work?”_

“Get to a secure line.” The call disconnected on the other end and Phil pocketed his phone. He started typing in his computer, uploading the files for Fury, e-mailing an outline of his plan.

“Agent Coulson?” She was polite, but firm. Ms Potts clearly wanted to know who he’d called.

Phil handed the flash drive back to her. “What do you know about shared dreaming?”

*~*~*

“I don’t care, Eames.” Arthur sighed but kept reading through the pages in front of him.

“You should care that I don’t trust them. We agreed. Partners.”

“Eames!” Arthur took a deep breath before he began speaking again. “You have a lot of shady contacts. I trust you, I don’t need to trust them. S.H.I.E.L.D. is my contact, and yes, they are just as shady. You don’t need to trust them, just me. It’s a rush job, so it should be small, they won’t expect much.”

“Darling, we’re on a stealth fighter plane. Higher tech than we are allowed to know exists so that we can be in LA in 2 hours. Rush was understood.” Eames paused, looked out the pilot’s window at the clouds going by, trying to make the next sentence as nonchalant as possible. “If you would just tell me how it is you know this _Agent Coulson_ then-”

“Just drop it, Eames. Phil is my contact. That’s all you need to know about him.”

“ _Phil_?”

“Just catch up on the research. Please? We can’t go in with Stane blind.”

“Obadiah Stane?”

“Tell me you didn’t militarize him?” Arthur focused his undivided attention on his partner.

“No, darling, nothing like that.” Eames watched Arthur visibly relax. “However,” and there was the iron spine again. “I may have worked for him before.”

“ _May_?”

“He was looking to get proprietary information from a coworker. Nothing unusual.” But probably a situation that wouldn’t make the good people at the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division overly happy.

*~*~*

“Phil! How good to see you!” Eames called out dripping with sarcasm as he and Arthur deplaned.

“Mister Eames. Please, call me Agent Coulson.”

Eames smiled and offered his hand to the lovely red head. “And Miss Potts, it is a pleasure to finally meet you in person.”

“In... In person?” She let him clasp her hand while her eyes darted to Phil. “Have we spoken on the phone?”

“Noooo. Not at all.” Eames smiled and dropped the subject as though everything had been said. Arthur groaned quietly.

“Gentlemen, this way please.” Phil gestured to a tactical motor home at the edge of the tarmack.

“There’s a development you should know about, Agent.” Arthur held the door open for Pepper and met Phil’s eyes. “Eames did some extraction work for Stane a few years ago.”

“Who?” Coulson hopped into the truck not at all happy.

“Tony Stark, love.” Eames supplied, already seated. “Something about an arc reactor. There was no advantage in it though.”

There was no one in the RV who didn’t doubt Agent Coulson’s loathing of Mister Eames.

*~*~*

 

“I’ll need the specifics on the extraction you performed, Mister Eames.” Phil’s tone was pleasant enough, but there was a hard edge underneath that no one missed.

“I’m afraid I can’t provide you with that. I’ve told you more than I should have already. And that, _Agent_ Coulson, was as a favor to Arthur, not to S.H.I.E.L.D., I trust you understand non-disclosure concepts.”

“Mister Eames!-”

“Phil, it’s done.” Arthur interrupted. “What you need to know is that Obadiah Stane has met Eames. It doesn’t have to change much. Eames actually has a good plan to get Stane under. And he feels he can do Tony Stark.”

“He can _do_ Tony? I don’t understand.” Pepper chimed in.

Eames patted her hand. “I can pretend to be him, in a dream, and I can do it well enough to fool Obadiah.”

“I don’t... You aren’t … you don’t look the same at all.”

“That’s nothing, dear. Your lovely Mister Stark once believed I was you.” He smiled, patronizingly. “Trust me.” They were certain that she wouldn’t.

“What is your plan, Eames?” Phil grabbed a handle as the RV careened toward Stark Industries.

“Do you have someone who can accurately fire a tranquilizer gun?” Eames’ smile grew ever more creepy.

Coulson touched his ear. “Barton, do you have visual?”

The reply came in over the tactical vehicle’s sound system. _”Of course.”_

*~*~*

“Mister Stane!” Eames called from down the hall that he never should have had access to. Obadiah turned, shocked, unhappy. “Might I have a word please?”

Before Stane could utter a syllable there was a ruffled dart sticking out of his neck, and as he took a step forward, Eames could see confusion cross the man’s face. Another two disoriented steps and Stane was crumbling to the floor.

A blond man in a tac vest stepped into the hall and helped Eames drag the inert body down the hall. It was a messy way to deal with the job. But messy happened when rush jobs for secret government agencies paid the bills.

*~*~*

“I don’t understand why I have to do this?” Pepper sat in the desk chair, nervously eyeing the IV line Arthur was inserting into Agent Coulson’s arm.

“The more people that Stane recognizes as real people, the more stable and calm the dream will be. When you get there,” Arthur met her eyes. “when you see me, remember that it is a dream. Focus on two things. That your surroundings, the people and the location, are part of the dream. Focus on that, and on staying alive.”

“Staying alive!” Her voice was shrill with alarm.

“Tactful as always, Arthur.” Eames turned to his one-time forge and tried to reassure her. “If you die in a dream, you wake up. I promise you Miss Potts. If anything terminal happens, you will wake up right in this chair, right between Phil and I, and you will be fine.”

“If I die...” Her eyes were wide and her voice was still trembling.

“It is very true Pepper. I’ve done it a few times myself. It’s creepy, and it is painful, but you will wake up, and wake up healthy.” Phil smiled, which he knew wouldn’t have a charming assuring effect.

“Just remember,” Arthur broke in again, trying to reinforce their plan. “Stane can see you even if you can’t see him. All of the people around, civilians walking, driving minivans full of kids, they are projections of Stane’s subconscious. If you die, if you disappear from the dream. He will know that something is up, his subconscious projections will go looking to end the dream, and we only have one shot at this.”

“What... Won’t I have subconscious projections walking around?”

Arthur was thrilled at the intelligent question, it meant she was on board. “No. You will know it’s a dream. Your subsconscious will know you’re accepting that you’re in a dream.”

“And Mister Eames, he can’t pretend to be both me and Tony? We have only one shot. Tony’s life depends on this.”

“I can only be one person at a time. I will be the unflappable Tony Stark, and you will be the gorgeous and oh so capable Pepper Potts.”

Pepper wasn’t fully buying his reassuring smile either.

Arthur looked to Coulson as he hooked Pepper up to the PASIV. “You can manage a handful of projections? Six at most.”

“I’ve got it.” Coulson spoke quietly, confidently. “Five agents to hunt him down.”

Arthur set up his own line, and looked at the only person in the room who would stay awake. “You’ve got the timer and the player?”

“I’m on it.” Hawkeye nodded. “What will you be doing while they are playing tag with Stane.”

“I’ll be breaking into his safe.” Arthur pushed the plunger.

*~*~*

Pepper was standing in front of the arc reactor, wearing the backless blue dress she’d worn to the charity ball. It was strange. It was a strange thing to wear to work. And she couldn’t quite remember why she was at work, at night, in a ball gown. It must have been important...

She smiled at Jonas from accounting. It was strange for him to be there, it wasn’t his division, and hadn’t he transferred to New York...

A hand grasped hers, tugged her, and Pepper turned. He was familiar too. Vowel, his name started with a vowel. A... Arthur. He knew Agent Coulson. He’d been brought in for...

He smiled when he saw that she remembered it was a dream. When Jonas disappeared.

“Now think about what you were wearing. Blouse, skirt, shoes. Was your hair up or down?”

Pepper closed her eyes and then felt as though she was in the right outfit. She took a deep breath, she could do this. Arthur was still smiling at her, and she could do this to save Tony.

When she opened her eyes Tony was standing with them.

“Now don’t get mad at me Pepper. It’s just a little.. maybe a hiccup at most. Possibly, the jury's still out.”

“Eames?” Arthur’s smile was gone. Phil was walking toward them with other agents following along. “Didn’t you need to be in Malibu?”

“Yes, I did. Did. Do. I’m there now. You don’t see me.” Eames-as-Tony opened the door to a maintenance closet and walked in.

“It’s a shortcut.” Phil assured her.

*~*~*

Arthur smiled at Stane as the man woke with a start. He knew the look, the _I just died_ panic dreamers had the first time they woke up badly. With some people he tried to calm them, not with Stane.

“This is some damning evidence, Obediah.” Arthur tapped the empty folder in his hand. “I’d repeat all the people you’ve illegally sold arms to, but it’s much easier to say ‘everyone’. Is there anyone that you’ve said no to?

“Who…” Stane eyed Arthur, then turned his eyes to the folder. He thought for a moment, remembered for a minute, then “That’s blank. This is a dream. You’ve got nothing. And when we wake up” He smiled, cocky and far too sure. “That’ll be in your writing and not actually proof.”

“You just jumped into a robot and destroyed a sizeable chunk of Los Angeles, and _this_ is the dream.” Arthur chuckled, genuinely laughed.

“I saw the forger. I know what’s going on.” The smug didn’t leave Obediah’s face.

Arthur sat back in his chair. “He’s good, isn’t he? The best in the business, or you wouldn’t have hired him in the first place, right?” Arthur’s smirk matched his mark’s. “He did an excellent job as Stark while you tossed him around like a rag. While I was going through the safe in the lab, he’s very good at keeping people busy.”

“Arthur, that’s quite the loveliest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

Stane’s eyes went wide at the voice behind him. He jerked up from his reclining position, or he tried to, not having noticed that he was cuffed to the lounger.

Arthur’s smile was bordering on evil as he reached forward to swivel the man’s chair around. Eames stood beaming at Arthur’s compliment, but Pepper and Coulson looked excessively put out. Stane was going to burn for his crimes. Arthur watched the glee that cross the archer’s face as well.

“You are nothing if not distracting, Eames.” Apparently, Eames took that as a compliment as he finished snapping the PASIV closed, another grin and a slight blush.

“There’s no proof! You have no physical proof!” Stane struggled in his chair. “Get me out of here! You have nothing!”

“I heard you confess.” Phil said simply with a shrug. “Miss Potts heard it as well.” Coulson gestured to someone behind Arthur, and dark suited agents moved forward. “And then there’s everything that we find once we start talking to the people you implicated in … well, those you yelled commands at when you were getting _dressed up_. I’m sure they won’t hold up under interrogation.”

“It won’t even get to court.” Arthur found Stane’s vehemence a little impressive, if unfounded.

“No, it won’t.” Phil smiled as he looked up at his lackeys. “Bring him to the Fridge. Fury’s orders. No visitors.”

“You can’t do this! Do you know who I am? Do you know-“ The door closed as Obediah Stane was dragged off, his muffled cries were still slightly audible for another minute.

“Dinner?”

*~*~*

“Well,” Clint did his best to hide his smirk from Eames when he answered. “I am under the impression that there were a number of …” He cleared his throat to add as much innuendo as possible to his next word. “ _vacations_ together. _Memorable_ vacations.” Barton’s brow raised with a silent _If you catch my drift_.

“How recent were these _vacations_?” Eames watched the window reflection of Arthur and his friendly Agent Coulson chatting together while they went over Stane’s finances for the things that Arthur had found in the dream. Arthur was almost smiling, which set off a pang of jealousy in Eames’ stomach more than the archer’s words had.

“It’s been a while.” Clint turned from the window to hide his smirk. “Years.”

Eames sighed. “It would have to be, wouldn’t it? Arthur isn’t much for sharing.”

“Coulson either, maybe it’s gen-“ _Shit!_ He hadn’t meant to-

Eames’ loud full laughter interrupted Barton’s thoughts. Both men at the desk looked up from the files at the noise. Clint eyed the ceiling with a small blush.

Eames’ discerning eye raked over Arthur and Coulson. “Not brothers though?”

“Cousins.” Arthur crossed his arms in slight anger at Eames’ pushing.

“And summer holidays were spent at…?”

Phil’s eyes shifted from Barton’s avoidance to Eames’ interest. He finally answered when it was clear Arthur wasn’t giving in to his partner’s inquisition . “Pop-pop’s cabin. I’m under the impression you were there for a few day’s last winter.”

“Wait!” Barton interrupted. “You won’t take me to the cabin, but _he’s_ been?”

“They were hiding out. My name is on the deed. If you want to go on the lamb I could find some property in Arthur’s name so that you could hide from…” Phil raised a brow to Arthur. Arthur simply gestured toward Eames.

“Water under the bridge! The important thing is we’ve another successful job done. Done well and fast. I think it’s cause for a celebration. Don’t you?”

“His mother.” Arthur leaned back against the desk’s edge. “He was hiding from his mother.”

“Ridicule is not as attractive on you as you may have thought, darling.” Eames was sure that he’d be hearing Barton’s laughter from his projections for a long time to come.


End file.
